Bearing for trolley-wheels.



Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

. W M m /IW H 7 I l l l W F j 3% M m m HE NORRIS PETERS CO. PHOTC-LITHQ, 1-. l

S. L. MoADAMS.

BEARING FOR TRQLLEY WHEELS. 121 1110111101: FILED JAN. 27, 1911.

1,132,949. Patented Mar. 23, 1915 i 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

BYLVESTEB L. MOADAMS,

OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ABSIG'NOR TO THE CLEVELAND TROLLEY WHEEL COMPANY.

BEARING son metastases.

Specification of Letter: intent.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

Application filed January 87, 1911. Serial N6. 804,975.

To all w/z om it may concern:

Be it known hat I, Sxnvssrsn L. Mc- Aoaais, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cu a hoga and State of Ohio, have invente a certain new and useful Improvement in Bearings for Trolley-Wheels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to im rovements in self-oiling trolley wheels an has for its object the provision of a trolley wheel which has longer life and is more durable than the wheels ordinarily employed and at the same time is more effective and efficient than the latter.

It is a well known fact that the trolley wheels in general use are short lived due to the wear on the bearings because of inadeuate lubrication and improper construction, and due to the cutting of the rim by the trolley wire.

A great deal of time and mone have been expended in an endeavor to pro ace a trolley wheel which is more satisfactory than the commonl employed simple form of trolle wheel. owever, when the life of the wheel, its first cost and general efiicienc are taken into consideration, as far as am aware, no wheel has ever been produced, prior to my invention, which is as satisfactorv as the wheel enerally emplo ed.

have producer? a trolley w ee which by careful durability, time and efficiency tests has proven to be far more satisfactory than the wheel ordinarily employed, and although its first cost is more than that of some of the wheels at resent employed, still the increase in lifli, durability and eiliciency is far greater in proportion than the increase in cost.

The wheel constructed in accordance with my present invention comprises what I term a wheel within a wheel, the inner wheel bein fixed to or integral with the spindle whic is stationary relative to the harp, and the outer wheel being in the fore of a shell which rotates on the mner wheel and is rovided with a grooved rim portion w iich may be either integral or removably secured to the shell. The outer wheel or shell is provided on the interior and at the base of the grooved rim portion with an annular bearing groove which receives the outer portion or portions of the inner wheel and has a bearing thereon, and this shell forms an oil receptacle or chamber which is adapted to be supplied with a uantity of oil to lubricate the hearings on t e interior of the shell throughout the life of the wheel. The shell has at the middle thereof a pair of oppositely disposed spindle openings which are sli htly larger in diameter than the spindle and is provided about the spindle and spindle openings with inwardly projecting flanges which serve to throw back to the interior of the shell, in this case, nearly all of the oil which asses axially outward along the s indle to he narrowest portions of the spin le openings. 4

Inasmuch as there is usually a film of oil between the inner fixed portion and the outer rotating portion of the wheel, I find it desirable to employ brushes or contact springs such as are usuall employed with t e ordinary form of tr'o le' wheel, these brushes being carried by the harp and hearing with yielding or spring pressure a ainst the sides of the wheel, about the spind e and adjacent the s indle openin s.

I have foun that unless the bearing surfaces of the brushes are slightly lubricated they wear out and must be replaced much sooner than the other portions of the wheel, and therefore to extend the life of the brushes and to avoid the necessity for their frequent replacement and in fact to make them as long lived as the other portions of the wheel which are subjected to wear or depreciation, I provide means whereby the oil in the oil inclosure or shell not only serves to lubricate the bearing surfaces of the wheel itself, but also lubricates the brushes. I have found that by properly proportioning the spindle openings in the side walls of the rotating wheel or by providing clearance spaces of the proper. amount between the spindle and side walls, all the oil which passes axially along the spindle in an outward direction, on reaching the narrowest ortio'nsof the spindle openings attaches itself to the side walls and is thrown to the interior of the chamber by reason of the fiaring flanges. I have discovered also that by making the clearance spaces slightly less than is necessary to cause the return of all the oil to the interior of the chamber, just suflicient oil will be permitted to escape to properly lubricate the contact brushes. The quantity of oil which is allowed to pass through the spindle openings to lubricate the brushes is sullicient to give the brushes long life, but is insuiiicient to materially affect their efliciency as current collectors.

Mv invention may be further briefly summarized as consistim in certain novel details of construction and combinations and arran cments of parts which will be described in tie specification and set forth in the ap pended claims.

Reference is had tovthe accompanying sheets of drawin 's wherein- Figure 1 is a Ton itudinal sectional view of a trolley harp an trolley wheel embodying my invention; Fi 2 is a similar V 1OW showing a slight mot ification; Fi 3 1s a side view of the harp and wheel siown m Fig. 1 on a slightly reduced scale; Fig. 4 18 a similar view with a ortion of the harp broken away so as to 510W more clearly a contact brush which is lubricated by oil passing from the shell or oil chamber; Fig. 5 1s a side view of the wheel shown in *ig. 1 with the cap or one of the side portions of the shell or rotatin wheel removed so as to show in elevation the inner or fixed wheel; and Fig. 6 is a detached view of the rim portion of the wheel shown in Fig. 2.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5, 10 represents a harp provided with the usual arms 10 and 10, which at their upper ends are provided with slots or rooves adapted to receive and have secured t erein a spindle 11 of the trolle wheel. The trolley wheel which may be esignated-as a whole by the reference character 12 includes an outer or rotating portion 13 which I term the outer wheel or shell and an inner or relatively fixed spider or so-called wheel 14, upon which the outer portion rotates and which is in this case integral with the spindle 11. The rotating wheel 13 includes a main portion 13' carrying a grooved rim 13 and a removable side or cap 18 which may be secured to the portion 18' in various ways, but preferably by being forced with a tight fit into a suitable groove or recess of the portion 13'.

The inner or stationary spider or wheel 14 consists in this case in addition to the spindle of a plurality of spokes or arms 14 provided at their outer ends with are shaped bearing heads M which have greater width than the arms and form bearings for the outer wheel, these bearing heads formin pllllitS or sections of an interrupted or divided fe y.

The shell is provided on the interior with an oil chamber or inclosure which may be designated by the reference character 15 and at the inner periphery of this chamber or inclosure and a short istance from the base or inner portion of the grooved rim 18 for the reception of the tr0lle wire, is an annular bearing groove 1Z5 w ich receives and has a bearing on the portions 14 of the inner member 14. This bearing "roove has an annular peripheral portion which engages or bearsupon the outer or peripheral portions of the bearing heads 14. and has parallel side portions formed by inwardly extending shoulders on the main portion 13 and the movable cap 13 of the rotating wheel. The distance between these shoulders or parallel side bearin" surfaces is such that the outer wheel will have a close but running fit on the bearin" heads of the inner wheel 14, but lateral vibration of the rotating wheel will be prevented.

The sides of the shell or rotating portion 13 are provided with oppositely disposed spindle openings and on the interior these sides or side portions are provided with inwardly projecting flanges 13 flaring or ta.- pered outwardly with respect to the spindle. The purpose of the taper is, as is readily apparent, to cause the return of the oil whic 1 passes axiallyoutward along the spindle, to the interior of the shell or to the periphery of the oil chamber or inclosure.

hese spindle openings are made slightly larger in diameter at their narrowest portion than the spindle so that the latter will be free of and will not touch the side portions of the wheel and the clearance between the side walls and spindle is preferably made such that nearl all (but not quite all) of the oil which ten s to ass axially along the s indle out of the ciamber is thrown back centrifugal force into the chamber.

It Wlll be seen that with this trolley wheel, the rotating wheel or portion 13 has a very large bearing on the outer bearing surfaces or periphery of the inner wheel or portion 14 and that the bearing surfaces are at all times when the wheel 1s in rotation in the medium of the oil which is thrown outward] by centrifugal force, the oil being broug it directly into the annular bearing groove 15 by reason of the fact that I employ no continuous felly but merelv are shaped bearing heads 14 which permit the oil to pass outwardly between them onto the bearin surfaces.

Witi this construction, as before stated. there is a film of oil between the inner and outer wheels when the outer wheel is in rotation, and consequently for the proper collection of current, I employ contact springs or brushes 16 which are carried by the harp and are provided at their upper ends with annular bearing portions 16" which surround the spindle and bear on the sides of the shelbor rotating wheel adjacent the spindle openings therein. In order that the brushes or springs 16 may not be rapidly worn away by contact with the rotating wheel, I prov de means whereby these brushes are continuously supplied with just sufiicient lubricant to minimize the wear on the brushes.

' This I accomplish by providing clearance spaces between the spindle and side walls such that instead of all the oil which passes axially along the spindle being returned to the chamber, a very small portion will be permitted to escape and find its way between the surfaces of the brushes and the shell on which the brushes bear. The quantity of oil which is thus allowed to pass outward and lubricate the brushes need be only very small to accomplish the desired result. Consequently, with this construction, not only do I provide in a trolley wheel an oil chamber which constantlylubricates the bearing surfaces for the main rotating portion, but the oil which is supplied to this chamber also lubricates in just the desired manner and to the desired extent the brushes which bear on the shell on the exterior of the oil inclosure.

The oil may be admitted to the oil chamber or inclosure 15 in'various ways, but I prefer to provide in the spindle 11 an oil opening or passageway 11 which extends from one of the ends of the spindle inwardly in an axial direction and thence downwardly or in a radial direction so that oil supplied to the end of the passageway 11 will flow along the passageway and drop into the oil chamber.

While I prefer to so proportion the spin-' dle openings that a slight amount of oil is permitted to escape so as to lubricate the contact brushes, still I consider it within the scope of my invention to proportion the V spindle openings so that none of the oil is permitted to escape, such as when a lubri- .cant of good conductivity is employed, in

rotating wheel 13 shown in Fig. 1, being in this case provided with a shell 17 which is cylindrical in shape and as in the first instance forms an oil chamber, the peripheral or cylindrical wall of which has a bearing on the inner wheel or relatively fixed part. This cylindrical shell 17 is formed in two parts described in connection with the construction shown in Fig. 1 and is provided with the same form of spindle openings, and with the oil return flanges, the openings permitting a very slight quantity of oil to escape from the inclosure and to lubricate the brushes .16. This shell 17 is provided with a rim portion having a plurality of inwardly projecting bearing lugs 17 which are adapted to tightly engage the outer periphery of the shell 17 The tests of my improved trolley wheel show that practically the only wear after a long period of use occurs at the grooved wear or cutting of the rim by the trolley wire is minimized, and the trolley remains in engagement with the trolley wheel more effectively than heretofore because all lateral vibration of the wheel is prevented.

I am aware that self oiling wheels have been proposed but such wheels have not been successful, principally because the oil could not be retained in the oil chambers, and for the further reason that such wheels were not constructed along good mechanical lines and were in fact impracticable.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim 1s:

1. A self-oiling trolley-wheel, comprising 7 a fixed spindle, a spider secured to said spindle having a bearing rim, a rotary Wheel member having an outer wire-engaging groove and an inner shell-portion provided with an interior peripheral bearing surface adapted to engage and be supported by said bearing rim, the inner side walls of said shell-portion extending inwardly toward the spindle to form a lubricant chamber having a free and unobstructed passage so that a lubricant contained therein may be constantly carried by centrifugal force directly to said bearing.

2. A self-oiling trolley-wheel, comprising a fixed spindle having an integral spider provided with a bearing rim, a rotary wheel having an outer annular grooved portion and an inner shell portion having a lubricant-containing chamber inclosing said spider and provided with an annular bearing surface adapted to engage said rim, the side walls of said chamber forming annular channels which permit a free unobstructed centrifugal action during the rotation of the wheel to continually force lubricant outwardly to the bearing surface, said side walls terminating adjacent the spindle in inwardly extending flaring flanges.

3. A self-oiling trolley-wheel, comprising a fixed spindle having intermediate radial arms provided upon their outer ends with arcuate rim sections forming bearing heads, and a rotary wheel supported by said hearing heads and comprising an outer annular five cents each, by address i Copies of this patent may be obtained for a Washington, D. 0.

fu 'al action to -the :loearing testimony Where SYL ngthe Commissioner trid nt 5,} V V of; I hereunto affix 1 1 signature in the presence of-two witnessesz VEST ER LQMGA DAM S. lvitnessest. I

;H.- SUL-I-JIVAN, A. Kwls. 

